Argyle Executive Forum recently surveyed finance executives in their membership about the role of Finance and how it’s evolving.
In the survey sample, 79% of respondents had titles of VP or higher and 68% were from organizations with $1B or more in revenue. The survey results validated our view that Finance is becoming the “information hub” of the organization.
Finance regularly collects data from every business unit and consolidates that information to drive financial and management reporting. The results of the Argyle survey highlight the fact that Finance is a powerful change agent that helps line of business managers do the following
- Optimize processes
- Achieve goals
- Avert problems
- Make decisions
Here are a few key survey points highlighting the expanding role of Finance and its influence on line of business operations
- Over 70% of CFOs think their Finance team has a collaborative relationship with operational teams
- 54% of organizations use sales pipeline data to drive Finance decisions
- 45% of business managers take a forward-looking approach in quarterly planning – using leading indicators or predictive analytics
The survey also highlighted the continued reliance on Excel in Finance and throughout the organization. Excel is the most commonly used tool within the Finance department for almost 65% of organizations. In addition, 57% admit to using Excel for operational planning at the departmental level.
Stop Using Excel for Forecasting
Based on this, 56% of respondents don’t feel that existing financial systems will meet future business and reporting requirements. However, more than half of those with inadequate systems have a clear roadmap to improve.
When asked about the role of Finance and its impact on the organization, 62% have seen the CFO’s influence increase. Further, 64% expect the CFO’s impact on business transformation to grow.
A key part of the survey focused on the skill sets that Finance executives feel are most important to their department’s success going forward. The results indicate that technology skills are becoming less important to Finance executives, while analytical skills and industry knowledge are becoming more critical.
- Less than 25% rank technology knowledge as a crucial skill
- More than 50% consider market, operational, and analytical knowledge to be important
The responses to these questions tie in well with the points raised earlier. As Finance executives become more influential and look to drive organizational transformation, analytical and industry skills are becoming more important and highly valued.
As cloud computing gains more traction in Finance, this puts less pressure on the Finance team to have deep technical skills and dedicated financial systems support staff.
To learn more about this survey and the expanding role of Finance check out this infographic or listen to this webinar replay.
By John O’Rourke, EPM Channel Contributor, from: http://blog.hostanalytics.com/the-transformational-cfo
John O’Rourke is Vice President of Product Marketing at Host Analytics. With a background in accounting and finance, John has over 30 years of experience in the software industry, and over 16 years of experience in EPM Product Marketing at Hyperion Solutions and Oracle. He has worked with many customers and partners on financial reporting and planning initiatives and has spoken and written on many topics in enterprise performance management. John has also held positions in strategic marketing and product marketing at Dun & Bradstreet Software, Kenan Systems and Decisyon. John has a BS degree in accounting from Bentley University and an MBA from Boston College. See John’s articles on EPM Channel here.